Energy conversion system

ABSTRACT

An energy conversion system, particularly for use in heating, cooling, and generating electrical and mechanical power for an area such as a dwelling. In one embodiment, vapor is alternately directed into one of two reservoir tanks so that working fluid in that tank is forced out of that tank by the vapor pressure and through a hydraulic motor, which powers a compressor and/or other devices such as an electrical power generator, garbage disposal, etc., before it returns to refill the other tank. The system includes a closed loop circuit involving a heat pump compressor for circulating fluid to heat and cool air within a building or the like. When the loop is set in a cooling configuration, compressed fluid passes through a first heat exchanger rejecting heat, and then through an expansion valve to a second heat exchanger, cooling the air about that exchanger before returning to the compressor. When the loop is set in a heating configuration, the compressed fluid in its gaseous state passes first through the second heat exchanger, where it transmits heat to the surrounding air, through the expansion valve and then through the first exchanger, where it receives heat not converted into shaft work by the hydraulic motor before returning to the compressor.

United StatesPatent 1191 McAlister 1451 Apr. 16, 1974 ENERGY CONVERSIONSYSTEM [21] Appl. No.: 233,460

[ ABSTRACT An energy conversion system, particularly for use in heating,cooling, and generating electrical and mechanical power for an area suchas a dwelling. in one embodiment, vapor is alternately directed into oneof two reservoir tanks so that working fluid in that tank is forced outof that tank by the vapor pressure and through a hydraulic motor, whichpowers a compres- 2 "f 6-0/7211-2/467 sor and/or other devices such asan electrical power generator, garbage disposal, etc., before it returnsto [5 Cl. :4 re ll t e ot er ta he y em in lud a c e o p [58] new ofSearch 62/324 circuit involving a heat pump compressor for circulat-91/4 ing fluid to heat and cool air Within a building or the like. Whenthe loop is set in a cooling configuration, [56] References Citedcompressed fluid passes through a first heat exchanger UNITED STATESPATENTS rejecting heat, and then through an expansion valve to 2,562,7487/1951 Smith et al 62/324 X a second heat exchanger, cooling the airabout that 3,100,965 8/1963 Blackburn 91/4 X exchanger before returningto the compressor. When 3,275,067 9/1966 Smader 62/324 X the loop is Setin a heating onfiguration the com- 3'304'735 2/1967 Alexander 62/324 Xpressed fluid in its gaseous state passes first through 3,608,31] 9/1971Roesel, Jr. 60/108 R the second heat exchanger, where it transmits heatto the surrounding air, through the expansion valve and f'Exam".lerEd]gar Geoghegan then through the first exchanger, where itreceives Amstam Exammer A ocstrzger heat not converted into shaft workby the hydraulic Attorney Agent or F'rm us D arby & motor beforereturning to the compressor. Cushman 1 Claim, 2 Drawing Figures 4m a aCk z M4 ix/wms/a/v rare fume/v a) {0 yam-wink PATENTEDAPR as W SHE'EI 1OF 2 (fakvrza;

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SBEEI 2 N 2 ATTORNEYS I MW? @f M ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEM BRIEFDESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The inventionrelates to an energy conversion system for heating and cooling an area,such as the interior of a building.

Most heating and cooling systems now in use include one device whichburns fuel or resistively heat wire for providing heat in the winter andanother device for cooling in the summer. Although the two devicesfrequently share the same air handling duct work, such devices aregenerally inefficient and less than completely satisfactory in manyinstances. In the summer, for instance, an electric motor driven heatpump provides cooling, but in the winter the heat pump often is not ableto absorb sufficient heat at the evaporator due to icing and subsequentinefficiencies.

The present invention relates to a'heating' and cooling system wherein ahydraulic motor is employed within a fluid configuration for cooling.The hydraulic motor is operated by an energy conversion system of thetype wherein high pressure vapor is altematelydirected into one of tworeservoir tanks so that working fluid in that tank is forced out of thattank by the vapor pressure and through the hydraulic motor.

In the embodiment described below, the hydraulic motor is mechanicallylinked to a conventional compressor which is connected in the loop inboth the heating and cooling configurations, together witha conventionalexpansion valve and two heat exchangers, which serve respectively as acondensor and evaporator. In the heating configuration, the compressedtemperature control fluid in its gaseous state first passes through oneheat exchanger which is disposed so that it exchanges heat with thesurrounding air, which is then circulated throughout the building or thelike. After the high pressure gaseous fluid transfers heat to thesurrounding air, it passes through a conventional expansion valve whichreduces the pressure to a relatively low value and accordingly lowersthe temperature. The expanded fluid next passes through a second heatexchanger from which it absorbs heat. The selection of the temperaturecontrol fluid andits resulting physical properties may require the firstheat exchanger to be designed as a condensor and the second as anevaporator because a significant portion of the fluid may be convertedto the liquid state in the first heat exchanger.

In the cooling configuration, the compressed temperature control fluidin its gaseous state first passes through the second heat exchangerwhere, because of the high pressure resulting from compression, it coolswhile being maintained at the compressor pressure by transferring heat,preferably to water flowing through the exchanger so that the heatedwater can be used for washing clothes, drying clothes, bathing, cooking,etc. The compressed, but cooled liquid then passes through the thermallyisolated expansion valve, which again reduces the pressure to alowervalue and thereafter the fluid is circuited through the first heatexchanger, which in this configuration may be required to serve as anevaporator or expander absorbing heat from the surrounding air In thisconfiguration, the first heat exchanger serves as an expander orevaporator and the second heat exchanger as a constant pressure heatrejector or condensor.

Further, the mechanical output of the hydraulic motor can also beconnected to an electrical generator for providing electrical powerand/or other devices for performing other useful functions such asdriving garbage disposals, washers, dryers, water pumps, air circulationfans, etc. Thus, the novel system of this invention is a particularlysimple and effective system for not only heating and cooling an areasuch as a building employing only a single simple basic energyconversion device for doing so, but also for performing many otherfunctions presently accomplished by other devices. Any fuel can bebumedto derive heat to operate the energy conversion system and accordinglythe system is very flexible.

Many other objects and purposes of the invention will become clear fromthefollowing detailed description of the drawings.

. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows the novel heating andcooling system of this invention in its cooling configuration.

FIG. 2 shows the novel heating and cooling system of this invention inits heating configuration.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Reference is now made to FIG. 1which shows one embodiment of this invention in the coolingconfiguration. As mentioned above, the system includes an energyconversion device 18 of the type wherein fluid is alternately forcedfrom one reservoir tank through at least one fluid motor or hydrauliccylinder into the other tank. Such devices are described in furtherdetail in a McAlister application, Ser. No. 58,981 filed July 28, 1970,now U.'S. Pat. No. 3,756,086, and entitled VAPOR PRESSURIZED HYDROSTATICDRIVE, the disclosure of which is explicitly incorporated herein byreference. The system is particularly suitable for use with one or morehydrostatic motors in parallel with each other or in series. In thisembodiment, as in many of the other embodiments of the invention as setforth in the above mentioned McAlister application, vapor is alternatelydirected into one of the two reservoir tanks 20 and 22 so that theworking fluid in the tank is forced .out of .the tank by the pressure ofthe vapor, and

through a conventional hydraulic motor 38 to generate a mechanicaloutput before it returns to refill the other tank. When the first tankis substantially depleted, the vapor pressure is directed into therefilled tank so that the fluid from the tank now flows again throughmotor 38 to refill the first, now depleted, tank.

In FIG. I, a suitable reservoir 24 or a fluid such as water is connectedto a conventional phase converter or boiler 26, which converts the fluidfrom a liquid to a vapor phase. This conversion may be accomplished byburning a suitable fuel such as the hydrocarbons, so that the generatedheat changes the phase of at least a portion of the fluid in boiler 26.Any other suitable arrangements for generating the vapor which isemployed to impart motion to the working fluid can be employed. Thevapor pressure output of boiler 26 is directed to either reservoir tank20 or tank 22 via master valve 28, which may be a conventional solenoidvalve or any othe suitable type of valve mechanism. As depictedschematically in FIG. 1, valve 28 is operated by a suitable controlapparatus 30, which alternately causes valve 28 to direct the vaporpressure generated by boiler 26 into one of the reservoir tanks 20 and22.

Control 30 may be mechanically or otherwise linked to the fluid motor38, so that the position of the valve 28 is responsive to the physicalposition of the rotating part of fluid motor 38. Alternately, control 30may include means for sensing the fluid level by electrical or thermalinformation in tanks and 22 and switching the vapor flow from tank totank whenever the fluid in either tank is detected above or below acertain predetermined level.

Assume for purposes of describing the operating of the embodiments ofFIG. 1 and 2, that control has shifted valve 28 to a position such thatthe vapor pressure generated by boiler 26 is transmitted into tank 22 asdepicted, causing the fluid in tank 22 to exit from the bottom of tank22 and to flow theough motor 38 via one way check valve 32 as well asthe other check valves in this and the other embodiments set forthbelow, permit fluid flow in one direction but prevent it in the other.Those valves may be of any suitable type and are well known in the art.After passage through motor 38, the moving fluid passes through checkvalve 34 and enters tank 20. An exhaust vlave 40, which also is shownunder the control of apparatus 30, is preferentially vented to heatexchanger 50 when the dwelling is being heated and vented to theatmosphere during times when the dwelling is being cooled, so thatthefluid can freely enter tank 20. Valve 42, at the same time, is closedto prevent the loss of the vapor pressure generated by the flow of vaporinto tank 22 via valve 28.

The cyclic venting of tanks 20 and 22 to heat exchanger 50 in theheating configuration and to the atmosphere in the cooling configurationmay in some duty cycles result in a gradual reduction in the quantity ofworking fluid in the'sustem. Reservoir 24, provides some make-up fluidsince some of the vapor directed into the tanks condenses therein and isthus added to the supply of working fluid. However, it may be desirableto provide some suitable arrangement for automatically or otherwisereplenishing the working fluid from time to time. I

.When tank 22 has been depleted or substantially depleted, controlmechanism 30 shifts the position of valve 28 so that the vapor pressuregenerated by boiler 26 is now directed into tank 20 and begins to forcethe fluid which has refilled it out of tank 20 and through fluid motor38 via check valve 36. At the same time, exhaust valve 40 is closed andvalve 42 opened by apparatus 30, so that the fluid now flowing throughmotor 38 bia check valve 36 returns to tank 32 via check valve 39. Openvalve 42 permits the vapor pressure in chamber 22 to escape to theatmosphere, so that tank 22 can refill.

A portion of the fluid flowing out of one or the other of the tanks 20or 22 also returns to reservoir 24 via valve 32 or 36. Fluid enteringthe boiler from reservoir 24 may be manually or otherwise adjusted byapparatus 20 to provide a suitable flow of liquid for vaporizationwithin boiler 26. As mentioned above, while water is one suitablematerial which exits in the vapor and gaseous phase and can be suitablyused in this arrangement, any other suitable fluid which can besatisfactorily converted from its liquid to its vapor phase can beemployed. The use ofa common fluid in the air conditioning loop and theboiler loop with heat exchange to the air from closed heat exchangerswould be recommended in situations where gound water was of low qualityor unavailable.

Hydraulic motor 38 is mechanically lined to a conventional compressor52, which causes both compression of the temperature control fluid andcirculation of the temperature control fluid about a closed loop in boththe heating and cooling configurations. Motor 38 or another hydraulicmotor in series or parallel may also be connected to a conventionalelectrical generator 54 for providing electrical power for the building.Other hydraulic motors and hydraulic cylinders may be employed to otherdevices 56 such as fans, garbage disposals, dish washers, clotheswashers, clothes dryers, and trash compactors. Devices 56 can includeany apparatus capable of being operated from the mechanical output ofmotor 38 or from a hydraulic cylinder.

When system 18 is to be operated in the cooling configuration, valves60, 62, 64, and 66 are shifted manually or automatically to their openpositions as shown in FIG. 1 and valves 68, 70, 72, and 74 to theirclosed positions. When the valves are in the positions shown in FIG. 1,the temperature control fluid compressed by compressor 52, flows throughline 80, valve 60, line 82, and heat'exchanger 50 in the directionindicated by the arrows. Further, when in the cooling configuration,valves 84 and 86 are closed and valve 91 open so that ground water at arelatively low temperature T, flows into heat exchanger 50. It isfurther preferred while in cooling operation to open valves 1 18 and 119 allowing fluid returning from the motors or hydraulic cylinders,which has been cooled by passing from a high pressure state to a lowpressure state by doing work in the motor and further by dissipatingheat to the surroundings to enter the reservoirs 20 and 22 in a meansaccomplishing condensation of residual vapors so that the pressure in areservoir during filling approaches the working fluids vapor pressure atthe temperature of the return fluid. Thus, the reservoirs fillingpressure generally is below the pressure of chamber 50, and enables theevaporating fluid exiting chamber 50 at T to be added to reservoirs 20and 22 through valves 40 and 42, or through separate circuits, with theresult of a depressed temperature (T due to increased evaporativecooling at the reservoir filling pressure.

When the system to operate in the heating configuration, valves 60, 62,64, and 66 are shifted to their closed positions and valves 68, 70, 72,and 74 to their open positions as shown in FIG. 2. Accordingly, thecompressed temperature control fluid in its gaseous state first passesthrough heat exchanger 102 via valve 68. Because of the relatively highpressure produced by compressor 52, heat is transferred to the air aboutexchanger 102 in the process. The air thus heated is then conventionallycirculated. The fluid via valves and 96 and then enters exchanger 50 viavlave 72. Water at a temperature T,, which may be considerably higherthan outside air because of heat gained from exchanger 109 consisting ofheat not converted into mechanical power by the energy conversion enginesystem, enters the heat exchanger 50, transfers heat to the expandedtemperature control fluid and exits at a temperature T as shown, whichis less than T,. Thus, heat not used in powering convenience devices isused to heat the home.

Further, when the system is in the cooling configuration, FIG. 1, tanks20 and 22 are preferably vented to heat exchanger 50 as shown. Thisallows the tank being filled to beat a partial pressure equal to thewater vapor pressure. By placing the line between tanks 20 and 22 andexchanger 50 in a position causing Bernoulli pumping while the tank isfilling, exchanger 50 may be evacuated allowing the development of alower temperature in the heat exchanger than the entering ground watertemperature T Many changes and modifications in the above em bodimentsof the invention can of course, be made without departing from the scopeof the invention which is intended to be limited only by the scope ofthe appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An energy conversion system comprising a heat engine and a heat pumpcircuit, said heat engine including means defining a first energy inputzone within which a high energy gaseousvapor is utilized to increase theenergy level of fluid medium at a low energy level therein, I meansdefining a second energy inputzone within which a high energy gaseousvapor is utilized to increase the energy level of the fluid medium at alow energy level therein, means defining an energy conversion zone,

means for alternately communicating the increased energy level mediumwithin said first and second energy input zones in first and secondfluid energy transmitting relationships with said first energyconversion zone and for causing flow of increased energy level mediumout of said first and second energy input zones and flow of increasedenergy level medium in a liquid phase into said energy conversion zone,

means for converting within said energy conversion zone a portion of theenergy of said increased energy level medium in said first and secondfluid energy transmitting relationships into motive force therebyreducing the energy level of said medium in said first and second energytransmitting relationships,

means for alternately communicating reduced energy level medium in aliquid phase within said'energy conversion zone with said first andsecond energy input zones and for causing reduced energy level medium ina liquid phase to flow out of said energy conversion zone and reducedenergy level medium to flow alternately into said first and secondenergy input zones, and

means for obtaining the high energy gaseous vapor utilized within saidfirst and second energy input zones by adding heat to medium which hasbeen energized by energy transfer with fluid medium in said first andsecond fluid energy transmitting relationships,

said heat pump circuit including means for confining a temperaturecontrol fluid for circulation in a closed loop,

compressor means operatively connected with said energy conversion meansto be driven by said motive force and disposed within said closed loopto compress the temperature control fluid and effect circulation of thelatter in said closed loop when driven by said motive force,

first heat exchanger means operatively connected in heat exchangerelation with air to be conditioned and disposed within said closed loopfor flow of temperature control fluid therethrough,

second heat exchanger means operatively connected in heat exchangerelation to engine fluid medium and disposed within said closed loop forflow of temperature control fluid therethrough,

expansion valve means disposed within said closed loop,

means for alternately directing the circulation of temperature controlfluid in said closed loop from said compresser means (1) through saidfirst heat exchanger means, said expansion valve means, and then saidsecond heat exchanger means and (2) through said second heat exchangermeans, said expansion valve means and then 'said first heat exchangermenas, and

means for alternately communicating the working fluid in heat exchangerelation with said second heat exchanger means l with the reduced energylevel medium flowing alternately into said first and second energy inputzones when the circulation within said closed loop is directed as setforth in (2) 1 above and (2) in heat exchange relation with theincreased medium in said first and second fluid energy transmittingrelationships when the circulation within said closed loop is directedas set forth in (1) above.

1. An energy conversion system comprising a heat engine and a heat pumpcircuit, said heat engine including means defining a first energy inputzone within which a high energy gaseous vapor is utilized to increasethe energy level of fluid medium at a low energy level therein, meansdefining a second energy input zone within which a high energy gaseousvapor is utilized to increase the energy level of the fluid medium at alow energy level therein, means defining an energy conversion zone,means for alternately communicating the increased energy level mediumwithin said first and second energy input zones in first and secondfluid energy transmitting relationships with said first energyconversion zone and for causing flow of increased energy level mediumout of said first and second energy input zones and flow of increasedenergy level medium in a liquid phase into said energy conversion zone,means for converting within said energy conversion zone a portion of theenergy of said increased energy level medium in said first and secondfluid energy transmitting relationships into motive force therebyreducing the energy level of said medium in said first and second energytransmitting relationships, means for alternately communicating reducedenergy level medium in a liquid phase within said energy conversion zonewith said first and second energy input zones and for causing reducedenergy level medium in a liquid phase to flow out of said energyconversion zone and reduced energy level medium to flow alternately intosaid first and second energy input zones, and means for obtaining thehigh energy gaseous vapor utilized within said first and second energyinput zones by adding heat to medium which has been energized by energytransfer with fluid medium in said first and second fluid energytransmitting relationships, said heat pump circuit including means forconfining a temperature control fluid for circulation in a closed loop,compressor means operatively connected with said energy conversion meansto be driven by said motive force and disposed within said closed loopto compress the temperature control fluid and effect circulation of thelatter in said closed loop when driven by said motive force, first heatexchanger means operatively connected in heat exchange relation with airto be conditioned and disposed within said closed loop for flow oftemperature control fluid therethrough, second heat exchanger meansoperatively connected in heat exchange relation to engine fluid mediumand disposed within said closed loop for flow of temperature controlfluid therethrough, expansion valve means disposed within said closedloop, means for alternately directing the circulation of temperaturecontrol fluid in said closed loop from said compresser means (1) throughsaid first heat exchanger means, said expansion valve means, and thensaid second heat exchanger means and (2) through said second heatexchanger means, said expansion valve means and then said first heatexchanger menas, and means for alternately communicating the workingfluid in heat exchange relation with said second heat exchanger means(1) with the reduced energy level medium flowing alternately into saidfirst and second energy input zones when the circulation within saidclosed loop is directed as set forth in (2) above and (2) in heatexchange relation with the increased medium in said first and secondfluid energy transmitting relationships when the circulation within saidclosed loop is directed as set forth in (1) above.